I have no doubt that dozens of the other weblogs I read will be (or have already been) discussing the 6A acquisition of Livejournal. With this acquisition also came some subtle changes in their Privacy Policy. The most noticable one for me is the new statement:
bq. LiveJournal.com may use or share your personal information where it is necessary for us to complete a transaction, to operate or improve LiveJournal.com and related products and services, to do something that you have asked us to do, or tell you of products and services that we think may be of interest.
bq. Where you are contacted with an offer or service based on information you have shared with LiveJournal.com, we will do our best to provide you with an opportunity to opt-out of receiving such further communications at the time you are contacted.
This is of course, counter to their original statement back when LiveJournal was a growing community:
bq. The only things we email you will be things you explicitly ask for (like a password reminder), mailing lists that you sign up for, or notifications about your account status.
Having said that the future of blogging for Janunary 2005 would depend on the actions of 6A and LJ one year ago I am both saddened and forward-thinking about the whole thing. I remember well how upset I was about Movable Type's pricing change, and I remember well how I came to settle in on Textpattern, having now gone through Open Diary, Greymatter, Livejournal, Movable Type, b2, b2evolution, and Textpattern, I've seen weblogs come, go, and self-destruct.
Anyone want to take bets on how long until your lj username will double as a TypeKey registration? (and vice-versa)
You can read more about the deal on either LiveJournal or MT's website, or read from a user who noticed the changes in LiveJournals Privacy Policies and decided to speak up. 6A remembers well when they pissed off their own user base. I wonder if they ever thought of what happens when they shake a beehive of angry blogging 14 year olds.
[mtlj]http://www.felocity.org/blog/769/blog-software-developments
In response to "Shaking Up The Blogging World":
”… a beehive of angry blogging 14 year olds.”
Jakobo, I heart you, XD!
Ya know… as I told ya through AIM… LJ was literally my Eden of blogs seeing as I came from TOD (Open Diary’s “teen” version). I defended TOD while I was there… never was happy with the options, but I got what I paid for. And I paid jack sh*t for it, XD. Was beyond happy to move on. Sad I lost my entries as I ceased going there to keep my journal active and never found the time to download my journal from there. Part of me is glad for that… and another part truly misses that part of my life I had written down.
I was so happy winter 2003 when LJ obsoleted the need for a code to create an LJ… and I have since had three different LJs (only two of which I ever posted in) and a few communities I helped create.
I’m going to be a very sad Kender if my shiny LJ gets some rust on it =’(…